A couple of days ago, I saw the movie The Glass Castle, based on the best-selling book. The story tracks the trajectory of a family from the viewpoint of the daughter. It is an insightful and heartbreaking journey, filled with bravado, alcohol, and pain. The mother and father end up in the Lower East Side in the late 80's and 90's, living in an abandoned building.
We at Graffiti knew that couple, the mother much better than the father. The mother, Rosemary, was a painter and she came to a number of our events--food, care for animals, clothing, and so forth. If someone told me then that she would be the subject of a best-selling book and a Hollywood film, portrayed by a famous actor, I wouldn't have believed it. She was simply one of many remarkable characters that were associated with the Graffiti mission--unsinkable, unique, plucky, artistic.
I think today of all the other amazing people who haven't gotten a movie. What depths of feeling do I walk by every day? Who is that person really when we give out a sandwich in the park? Everyone deserves a movie.
“No one will ever complain if you stop your sermon five minutes early,” my wife used to tell me. I was at a meeting of pastors recently where a series of people were each given two minutes to talk. Each successive pastor took longer and longer and longer. I slowly placed my hand over my wrist so that I could look at my watch.
It seems that as some of us get older we get more and more talkative, filling the room with our scattered wisdom. At least I do. My son told me that as a teenager my worst punishment for him was to bore him with lectures. Blah blah blah.
“Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalm 141:3).
I will stop there. No one will ever complain.
Giving courage to Christian believers who want to Meet the Need First.
